


like a rose-graft on an olive branch

by lavenderlotion



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bathing/Washing, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feral Logan (X-Men), Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Post-X-Men: Days of Future Past, Touch-Starved, Trauma, care taking, non-verbal communication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:14:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29109897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: For the sixth time, Erik coolly and calmly said, “This is a shower,” and then he pulled his shirt off.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Logan (X-Men)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 54





	like a rose-graft on an olive branch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tinaxpow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinaxpow/gifts).



> For the Tumblr prompt: _Having their hair washed by the other_
> 
> HUGE thank you to [Doctormagenta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorMagenta) for cheerleading this entire thing & letting me flood your DMs with this fic. You’re literally the only reason I ended up finishing it omg!

“This is a shower.”

Erik worked to keep his voice even. It was the fifth time he’d carefully explained what a shower was and what they were going to be using it for, and it was the fifth time he’d received nothing but a blank stare from his newfound housemate. His newfound housemate, who tilted his head to the side in a way that looked not unlike a dog, and growled. 

_ Again.  _

Ach verdammt nochmal.

For the sixth time, Erik coolly and calmly said, “This is a shower,” and then he pulled his shirt off. 

Logan growled at him  _ loudly, _ though the rumbling noise wasn’t one of anger or aggression. Oh mein Gott, but Erik was able to identify the emotional undertone of Logan’s  _ growling. _ What had he become? 

Without breaking eye contact, Erik slipped his sweatpants down his legs. This needed to happen. Erik had picked Logan up from a research facility that had looked more like a torture lab a mere four days ago, but in that time all he’d managed to get Logan to do was wash his hands in the fucking sink. 

The other mutant loved soap on his hands and he was going to love soap all over his body, because Erik could not stand one more Godforsaken night with his face forcefully tucked against the man’s neck. He  _ reeked!  _ Erik was not above coercing the man into a shower if it meant he could make it through a night of sleep comfortably. 

Logan took a few lumbering steps forward until he could tuck himself against Erik’s body and breathe hotly into his throat. Erik had grown used to the man’s need for contact after only a few hours, and—it was nice. Erik had been alone for nearly half a decade before hearing about  _ Division X, _ and while he hadn’t expected his raid (and destruction) of the base to result in a half-feral mutant companion, he certainly wouldn’t complain. 

When Logan’s rough hands began pawing at his underwear, Erik rolled his eyes as he tipped his head toward the ceiling. 

“No.” Erik kept his voice firm, which he’d found Logan responded best to. He pulled back just enough to meet the man’s eyes, and let out a laugh at the pout gracing Logan’s features. “No, Bär.” Erik pointed to the shower. “Shower first.”

Logan whined. It was a noise that went right to Erik’s heart, but he shook his head as he slowly reached forward. Logan raised his arms the second Erik had grabbed the bottom of his shirt, and Erik peeled it off with ease. 

“We are going to get clean.  _ Then _ you can get your hands on me. Understood?”

Logan grumbled through another growl. Erik watched him think, fascinated with just how bright the man was. Despite being—so far, at least—non-verbal, Logan understood everything Erik said to him. Yes, Erik had explained what a shower was several times over the last few days, but Erik was quite certain the reason Logan hadn’t yet agreed to a shower was not that he didn’t  _ understand. _ Rather, Erik thought it was likely a shower had been used against Logan, in some way, during his captivity. 

Erik understood what that was like, but he needed to get Logan clean.

Logan nodded, so Erik twitched a finger to get Logan’s jeans undone. For whatever reason, Logan seemed to prefer the hard press of denim over the softer lounge pants Erik wore most often. Only two days ago, he’d gone into town to grab Logan a number of pairs, which had made the man absolutely ecstatic in one of the most endearing displays of excitement that Erik had ever seen. 

Now, Erik pulled Logan’s jeans down as his hands reached out to push his underwear away. Erik raised an eyebrow when Logan once again reached for Erik’s own underwear, but all the man did was push them down Erik’s legs before pulling his hands back. 

“Good boy,” Erik praised, smiling softly at the pleased expression painted over Logan’s face. He turned the bath knob to get the water going, and looked at Logan evenly. “We are going to shower. We will be in there together, the entire time. I will not allow anything to happen to you.” 

Logan gave him a long, heavy look before he nodded his head. 

“Thank you,” Erik told him seriously, before he stepped out of his underwear and drew the shower curtains open with a flick of his eyes. “Follow me.”

Erik took both of Logan’s hands in his own and squeezed tightly. Despite Logan’s healing ability, his hands were often rough to the touch while the rest of his skin was quite smooth. With a deep breath that he exaggerated for Logan’s sake, he stepped back into the bath and quickly adjusted the water accordingly. 

“It’s only one step, Bär,” he soothed, and made an encouraging noise when Logan shuffled forward until his calves were pressed against the porcelain edge. “Come with me,” he said softly, grinning widely when, after taking a large breath, Logan stepped into the shower with him.

The moment the spray of water hit his shoulder, however, Logan was whining in the back of his throat, loud and panicked. 

“Quiet, Bär,” Erik soothed, firmly pulling Logan into his arms so he could brush his fingers through the man’s knotted hair. One arm went securely around Logan’s waist to keep their bodies pressed snugly together while the other gently guided Logan’s face into his neck. 

Erik shivered as Logan began talking large, gulping breaths of his scent. His beard was unwieldy, and while that was something Erik wanted to tackle soon enough, getting him washed was his first priority. He ran his hand in long strokes up and down Logan’s back as he made soothing noises, but he didn’t move them out of the water. If Logan didn’t want to be under the spray entirely, Erik was confident he would move. 

For now, he would hold him through whatever it was he was feeling. 

Long minutes later, Logan pulled back from Erik’s neck to meet his eyes. Logan’s were shot through with red, and Erik used the hand that had been stroking through Logan’s hair to wipe away the man’s tears.

“It is okay,” Erik said softly and slowly, and then shifted them around so the shower was hitting his back. “Thank you for doing this, Logan.”

Logan snuffled and mumbled under his breath, but he didn’t look as panicked. 

A wide grin split across Erik’s face before he could stop it, pride bubbling up from his belly. Erik could still remember the first shower he took on his own, and the way he’d crumbled under the cold stream and let his grief eat away at him for  _ hours _ before he’d managed to pull himself together. The horrors that Logan had gone through were unimaginable to him, but he knew they were very real. 

“You are doing wonderfully,” Erik told him with conviction, cupping Logan’s cheeks to draw him in and rest their foreheads together. “May I wash you now?”

Logan made a questioning noise as he tilted his head slightly to the side, which brushed their noses together in a way that chased a shiver across Erik’s skin. 

“We’re taking a shower together for a reason, Bär. This was just an excuse to get my hands on you.”

Logan laughed at the joke, and they shared a quick grin before Erik leaned in for a soft kiss. He only allowed it to last for a moment before he pulled back completely, letting his arms drop to his sides as he took in the gently looking smile on Logan’s face with a smile of his own.

His hands felt cold immediately, but he knew it was in his head. 

Erik reached for a bar of unscented soap he’d picked up after rescuing Logan. Rubbing the bar between his hands to work up a suds, he then telegraphed his movements as he reached out. Logan shivered as Erik’s hands rested gently against his neck, before he slowly began sweeping them over Logan’s shoulders. 

He continued to work at Logan’s shoulders so the man could adjust to the sensation of being washed. One hand held the bar of soap, and he trailed his other hand behind the bar to rub in the suds it left behind. The water was disgustingly dirty as Erik washed his neck, though he did his best to ignore it with little more than a grimace. 

Eventually, Logan grunted and nodded his head, so Erik moved lower. 

Logan was a  _ stunning _ man. He was made of work-hardened muscles, full in places Erik was lean and covered in a pelt of body hair that made Erik’s mouth water. It did so now, and he had to battle with his own arousal as he washed Logan’s body, fingers gliding over his firm pecs and the hard muscles of his abdomen. As his fingers neared Logan’s waist, he had to focus to keep himself from growing hard—an effort Logan didn’t seem willing to reciprocate. 

“Does this feel good?” Erik asked, raising an eyebrow as Logan’s erection twitched during a gentle sweep over a nipple. 

Logan growled at him lowly, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He was growing tenser as Erik went on, which only made him endlessly appreciative of the man standing before him. 

“You are so strong,” Erik murmured, as he stepped in close to wash his back. 

Instead of turning Logan around, Erik stepped close enough that he could rest their foreheads together before directing Logan’s arms skyward. Logan’s back was  _ incredible.  _ The strength in his body was more than admirable, and there were few things Erik enjoyed these days as much as he enjoyed watching the flex of muscles move as Logan worked out. 

Logan was hard and leaking by the time Erik fell to his knees. Erik ignored his own arousal and focused on his task, using the bar of soap to clean the dirt and grime off Logan’s rather impressive thighs. He was thorough in his task, and while he wasn’t going to get Logan off, he did make sure to clean his erection carefully, peeling back his foreskin to ensure everything was washed. 

Erik let out a chuckle when Logan’s hands landed in his hair. He looked up to find the man watching him behind heavy-lidded eyes, and a sharp grin spread across Erik’s face as he reached to clean the man’s ass. He nipped at Logan’s belly while he gently washed over his rim, circling it teasingly before pulling back to finish down Logan’s legs. 

Logan guffawed as Erik cleaned his feet, which pulled a boisterous laugh from Erik’s own lips as he grinned upwards. 

“Does that tickle, Bär?” Erik asked, snickering when Logan gently swatted at his face to get him to stop. 

He went easy, and only did what he needed to finish up before he rose to a stand. 

Logan’s body wasn’t impeccably clean. He  _ could _ use another cursory wash, but Erik felt his back straighten up in pride at just how much cleaner Logan was. It had  _ never _ been his intention to care for a half-feral man, but he couldn’t deny the way Logan had wormed into his heart. He had no idea what, if anything, would come of it, but he knew he would care for Logan as long as the man let him. 

“Now, let’s wash your hair, shall we?”

Logan snapped at the air, biting the space just in front Erik’s nose. He lifted an eyebrow, unimpressed, and said, “Aren’t you tired of not even being able to run your fingers through it?”

Logan growled at him, but after a moment of staring, ducked his head with a small whine. “Very good. Turn around for me, please?”

Tilting his head to the side, Logan looked at him curiously. Erik angled the shower head back to his own body, giving Logan a rest from having the water spraying directly down on him. As Logan turned, Erik took a chance to look him over. He was a shade paler than he’d been, covered as he was in dirt and grime. The water in the tub was finally beginning to run clear now that Logan was washed and rinsed, and a small smile graced Erik’s face as he looked him over. 

After a long moment Logan grunted, then turned around without further preamble. Erik’s grin widened as he tracked his eyes down Logan’s back, doing his best to ensure he hadn’t missed any skin and that nothing was still obviously dirty. 

Cleanliness checked, Erik stepped forward to plaster himself against Logan’s back. “I need you to tip your head back for me, Bär,” Erik asked quietly, pulling him back a step after getting his hands on Logan’s hips. 

Thankfully, Logan did as asked with only a moment of hesitation. Erik shuffled to the side and tugged at the shower head until it was hitting the crown of Logan’s head. With one hand rubbing his belly and one hand moving through Logan’s hair, he made sure it was sopping wet before moving the shower head away and reaching for the bottle of the shampoo he used. 

Erik went slow massaging the shampoo into Logan’s hair. Seeing as it was considerably worse than his body, Erik was certain they were going to need to wash it more than once. Even as he began massaging the product into Logan’s hair, it didn’t lather up like he knew it should. Two washes would  _ definitely _ be needed. 

No matter. Erik took his time to massage Logan’s scalp, working his thumbs in slow, circling motions down Logan’s head. Almost immediately Logan began a loud, rumbling purr that made something in Erik’s chest feel settled. He knew this was going to take some time, but...

That was alright. Tucked away in a cabin of metal, they truly had all the time in the world. 


End file.
